WASHINGTON — In a first, working-age people now make up the majority in U.S. households that
rely on food stamps. That’s a switch from a few years ago, when children and the elderly were the
main recipients.

Some of the change is attributed to demographics, such as the trend toward having fewer
children. But a slow economic recovery with high unemployment, stagnant wages and an increasing
gulf between low-wage and high-skill jobs also plays a big role.

It suggests that $80 billion a year the government spends on the food-stamp program — twice what
it cost five years ago — might not subside significantly soon.

Food-stamp participation since 1980 has grown the fastest among workers with some college
training, a sign that the safety net has stretched further to cover America’s former middle class,
according to an analysis of government data for the Associated Press by economists at the
University of Kentucky. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, now covers 1 in 7
Americans.

The findings coincide with the latest economic data showing that workers’ wages and salaries are
growing at the lowest rate relative to corporate profits in U.S. history.

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night is expected to focus in
part on reducing income inequality, such as by raising the federal minimum wage. Congress,
meanwhile, is debating cuts to food stamps, with Republicans wanting a $4 billion-a-year reduction
to an anti-poverty program that they say promotes dependency and abuse.

Economists say having a job no longer might be enough for self-sufficiency in today’s
economy.

“A low-wage job supplemented with food stamps is becoming more common for the working poor,”
said Timothy Smeeding, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who
specializes in income inequality. “Many of the U.S. jobs now being created are low- or minimum-wage
— part time or in areas such as retail or fast food — which means food-stamp use will stay high for
some time, even after unemployment improves.”

The newer food-stamp recipients include Maggie Barcellano, 25, of Austin, Texas. A high-school
graduate, she enrolled in college but didn’t complete her nursing degree because she no longer
could afford tuition.

Hoping to boost her credentials, she went through emergency-medical-technician training with the
Army National Guard last year but was unable to find work as a paramedic because of the additional
certification and fees required. Barcellano, now the mother of a 3-year-old daughter, finally took
a job as a home-health aide, working six days a week at $10 an hour.

Struggling with the low income, she recently applied for food stamps with the help of the
nonprofit Any Baby Can, to help save for paramedic training.

“It’s devastating,” Barcellano said. “When I left for the Army, I was so motivated, thinking I
was creating a situation where I could give my daughter what I know she deserves. But when I came
back and basically found myself in the same situation, it was like it was all for naught.”

Since 2009, more than half of households receiving food stamps have been adults ages 18 to 59,
according to the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. The food-stamp program defines
non-elderly adults as anyone younger than 60.

As recently as 1998, the working-age share of food-stamp households was at a low of 44 percent,
before the dot-com bust and subsequent recessions in 2001 and 2008 pushed new enrollees into the
program, according to the analysis by James Ziliak, director of the Center for Poverty Research at
the University of Kentucky.

By education, 28 percent of food-stamp households are headed by a person with at least some
college training, up from 8 percent in 1980. Among those with four-year college degrees, the share
rose from 3 percent to 7 percent. High-school graduates head the bulk of food-stamp households at
37 percent, up from 28 percent.

In contrast, the share of food-stamp households headed by a high-school dropout have dropped to
28 percent.

The shifts in food stamp participation come amid broader changes to the economy such as
automation, globalization and outsourcing, which have polarized the job market. Many good-paying
jobs in areas such as manufacturing have disappeared, shrinking the American middle class and
bumping people with higher levels of education into lower-wage work.